Cholsey & Moulsford (Change for Wallingford)

[Nick Gough]

While I am waiting for the glue to dry I made a start on some guttering.

 

I considered buying some commercially available 4mm sized examples but these all seem to be half round when the profile I really want is:

 

So I have made a start in scratchbuilding some from 2mm plasticard.

 

Using my scrawker to scribe a line 1mm from the edge of the sheet I then used mini files to open this up into a deeper and wider groove in the plastic.

 

A bit difficult to photograph clearly but you may be able to see it:

Edited May 8, 2022 by Nick Gough

[Nick Gough]

Latest work:-

Gable ends painted:

 

Putting together small lengths of corbelling:

 

To go above the windows:

Edited May 1, 2022 by Nick Gough

[Nick Gough]

You know when you've been Tangoed!

 

I've started painting a brick base colour of Humbrol 82 orange lining:

Edited May 1, 2022 by Nick Gough

[Nick Gough]

Looks like the goods shed has gone down with a serious case of measles:

 

Edited May 1, 2022 by Nick Gough
Replacing photos

[ChrisN]

8 minutes ago, Nick Gough said:

Looks like the goods shed has gone down with a serious case of measles:

 

I assume this was intended.  How will you do the mortar?

[Nick Gough]

4 minutes ago, ChrisN said:

 

I assume this was intended.  How will you do the mortar?

Yes, I will have to tone it down a bit.

 

I'm planning to do the mortar next with a wash of acrylic, then wiping the excess with a damp cloth.

[ChrisN]

36 minutes ago, Nick Gough said:

Yes, I will have to tone it down a bit.

 

I'm planning to do the mortar next with a wash of acrylic, then wiping the excess with a damp cloth.

 

Nick,

That should tone it all in quite well.  Look forward to seeing it.

[Nick Gough]

On the real goods sheds, at the bottom of each recessed wall panel, there were two rows of angled blue bricks, as seen at Maidenhead and Tetbury:

 

 

I made mine by removing two thin strips from a sheet of 30 thou plasticard, one 2mm wide and the other 1mm wide:

 

Before removing them from the sheet I filed one side of each strip to an angle of approximately 45 degrees, then cut a series of grooves, with a small saw, roughly 1.5mm apart.

 

These two strips were then separated from the sheet and glued together to form the two rows, with a thickness (at the bottom edge) of 1.5mm or 60 thou - the depth of each panel from the surrounding buttressing:

 

Painted 'tank grey', then separated into smaller lengths:

 

Glued into place on the shed:

 

 

 

Also to be seen, in the last shot, whilst I had the pot of 'tank grey' open, I painted the blue bricks surrounding the cart entrance.

Edited May 1, 2022 by Nick Gough

[Nick Gough]

It occurred to me that I ought to do something about the cart dock and platform deck that, for too long, have been supported by nothing more than thin air:

 

So I set to with some stripwood and embossed plasticard:

 

There is a small gap under these brick edges but I anticipate burying the building 4 - 5mm below ground level and at least this doesn't interfere with it sitting level at the bottom.

Edited May 1, 2022 by Nick Gough

[Nick Gough]

Today I have been concentrating on higher things:

 

 

Prepared and cut out the old fashioned way.

 

I have made them a little over scale thickness to improve resilience and rigidity.

Edited May 1, 2022 by Nick Gough

[Nick Gough]

I have connected the roof trusses together with what I understand is technically named a 'bottom chord runner', but in reality is the stick from a used firework rocket:

 

 

Each pinned in place with a Hornby track nail whilst the wood glue sets.

Edited May 1, 2022 by Nick Gough

[MrWolf]

Nice bit of miniature joinery.

[Nick Gough]

2 hours ago, MrWolf said:

Nice bit of miniature joinery.

Thanks. 

I want it to be both functional (to hold together/hold up the roof) and to look like the real timber work, since it will be visible through the glazed gable ends.

[Nick Gough]

Placed loosely in position with the bottom chord runner (rocket stick) trimmed to fit:

 

You may be able to see that, on the right hand side, the bottom chord runner meets the brick wall at the end, but on the left, it ends at the last truss. If it continued to the end of the building, at this end, it would meet the middle of the glazing in the gable end screen!:

 

Two rectangles of MDF for the next stage:

Edited May 1, 2022 by Nick Gough

[Nick Gough]

One rectangle glued to the trusses:

 

The position of the bottom chord runner is clearer in this photo.

Edited May 1, 2022 by Nick Gough

[Nick Gough]

And the second one:

 

I am now mulling over whether it is worth putting purlins between the roof trusses.

Edited May 1, 2022 by Nick Gough

[Nick Gough]

With the glue dry the roof structure is a snug fit on top of the shed:

 

Supported at one end by the half brick end wall and at the other rests on the two side walls:

 

This means it won't be resting on the plasticard glazed screen, at this end, which could have been a weak point.

 

The roof trusses hold both sides together and the whole roof seems to be quite solid and stable:

 

Looking in from the rail entrances, I think the inside looks okay:

 

Due to the thickness of the MDF there is a 'V' gap at the apex and the roof ends short on either side. I plan to use a layer of 10 thou plasticard, across the roof, to cover these gaps before slate laying.

Edited May 1, 2022 by Nick Gough

[Nick Gough]

Which reminds me - I must get the guttering up!

 

Also need to make provision for the chimney at one end.

[Nick Gough]

1001 uses for coffee stirrers - number 998: Bargeboards.

 

Just the right width and sticks to the MDF roof structure with wood glue:

 

Edited May 1, 2022 by Nick Gough

[Nick Gough]

Not much modelling recently, mainly due to our summer break in the New Forest and the Isle of Purbeck.

 

On the way down we stopped off for a trip on the Mid Hants Railway:

 

Unfortunately, due to a loco problem, our train started off diesel hauled, but later on we had a loco change:

 

The steam loco was swapped between the two trains running that day to ensure that all passengers still had a steam train ride.

 

I thought at first we had the same loco from our North Norfolk visit in June:

 

But, of course it wasn't the same number (all BR Standards look the same!)

 

However, some Great Westernry in the loco yard:

 

You probably noticed something blue in the background. They were preparing for their 'Thomas' week, starting the following day - lucky escape!

 

But it seems Thomas had lost his head:

Edited May 1, 2022 by Nick Gough

[Nick Gough]

I'm having a go at making a chimney stack for the goods shed.

 

I started with laminating four rectangles of thick plasticard:

 

To make a square section core:

(Difficult to focus!)

 

With a little filler to smooth of the rough sides (and my poor cutting skills!):

 

Then some more laminations of plain and embossed plasticard to build it up and create the corbelling at the top:

 

Blu-tacked on to the roof:

 

I needed a little stretcher bond for the central section - but don't have any. So I had a go at drawing up four small rectangles, with brickwork in the Silhouette programme. Cut and embossed in 10 thou:

 

You may just be able to make out that I have left the fourth row down, in the centre section, plain. This is for a stringer course that wraps around the stack.

 

Next to create the base.

Edited May 1, 2022 by Nick Gough

[Nick Gough]

A quick look at the real thing - at Maidenhead:

 

Although this a larger, rectangular section stack (with two pots) rather than the smaller (single pot) one for Cholsey.

 

I don't know what happened at Tetbury:

 

But they do say size isn't important!

Edited May 1, 2022 by Nick Gough

[RJS1977]

2 hours ago, Nick Gough said:

 

 

 

 

That pannier tank's been on this thread before - it's the one that opened our canopy a couple of weeks ago! Consequently, it has been to Cholsey station in the not-too-distant past.

[Nick Gough]

2 hours ago, RJS1977 said:

 

That pannier tank's been on this thread before - it's the one that opened our canopy a couple of weeks ago! Consequently, it has been to Cholsey station in the not-too-distant past.

4612 is certainly a well travelled pannier!

 

I remember I first saw it, nearly 40 years ago, at Haworth, in ex-Barry condition.

 

It had been bought as a source of spares for the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway's "Railway Children" pannier. 

 

Fortunately, it was subsequently sold on and restored for use at Bodmin.

[Nick Gough]

In the New Forest we stayed in a small lakeside lodge on the Beaulieu estate:

 

About five minutes walk away from:

 

For anyone that doesn't know it Bucklers Hard is a hamlet on the banks of the Beaulieu River that grew around a wooden ship building industry in the 18th and early 19th centuries:

 

There is a small maritime museum there with several interesting models of ships constructed there and the industry in the hamlet:

 

 

 

Over forty ships were built there for the Royal Navy including three that were in Nelson's fleet at Trafalgar: HMS Euryalus, HMS Swiftsure, and HMS Agamemnon.

 

Apparently once the hulls were completed the ships were launched then towed, by rowing boat, around to Portsmouth for fitting out.

 

Edited May 1, 2022 by Nick Gough